Festival Regional Arts Exhibition biggest yet

"Waiting" by Ken Kolker took the top spot in the photography category in the Festival 2008 Regional Arts Exhibition. It's on display in the former Grand Rapids Art Museum location.

GRAND RAPIDS -- During most of the past year, the bottom floor of the building at 155 N. Division Ave. was empty. The walls of the former Grand Rapids Art Museum were bare, dust settled on the floors and the halls echoed with the sounds of art shows past.

That was until organizers of the Festival 2008 Regional Arts Exhibition secured permission to use the space for at least one more year. In its 39th year as a beloved piece of the Festival of the Arts, this juried exhibit is showcasing more art and artists than previous years.

"This year, our numbers for the most part are higher," said Fred Bivins, chairman of the Regional Arts Competition and Exhibition Committee and former Festival board president. "It's the largest show made possible by the largest number of volunteers ever."

This year's exhibit, showing today and during Festival Friday through June 8, includes 383 pieces from 211 local artists. Three jurors sifted through 841 submitted works to decide which pieces made it into the show, as well as which artists received monetary awards for their work.

This year differs from years past in that the art is separated into three categories -- painting and drawing, photography and 3-D art -- and an artist from each genre accepted top honors and $500, rather than one overall winner taking home $1,000.

The three jurors -- Kendall College professor and painter Jay Constantine, photographer and Grand Rapids Public Schools teacher David Lubbers and Professor Emeritus from the Art and Design Department of Grand Valley State University and multi-media artist Daleene Menning -- judged works in their respective fields.

With 126 photos included this year, photography is the single largest medium represented. Ken Kolker, a Grand Rapids Press reporter, won the top award in this genre.

"A photograph works when it hooks you somehow," said Lubbers. "Ken's photo of skaters, their movement blurred by a long exposure, is titled 'Waiting.' That implied the opposite of movement -- stillness. I looked again and then saw her, in the middle, in the back of the rink, standing still, watching while everyone else is moving. There was a story there. I was hooked."

"It is very sophisticated and understated," Menning said. "Mr. Foster hit all the right notes. It leaves the viewer asking questions and having to stretch to reach them, but it is highly satisfying in the formal attributes and craft of it."

Painter Nick Antonakis won a top award for his acrylic exploration "Amtrak to Chicago -- Cranes."

The enormousness of this year's exhibit had Bivins and more than 80 volunteers spending half of April and much of May registering and hanging the art, as well as cleaning, painting and renovating the show space. When the Grand Rapids Art Museum relocated to its new digs on Monroe Center last year, the old location became property of the City of Grand Rapids.

Kendall College officials are in the process of purchasing the space, but for several months, the site was untouched and abandoned. Bivins said despite the workload, Festival is fortunate to have ample space again for the art show. Although the location for next year's exhibit remains uncertain, Bivins hopes Kendall College will allow organizers to utilize the same space next year.